The 2023 South African circuit racing season started on a brilliant note on Saturday, with the 22nd Passion for Speed at the Zwartkops Raceway producing great action, thrills and spills for a virtual capacity crowd.
Topping the show were two races for Marlboro Crane Hire Pre-1966 Legend Saloon Cars.
The opening race went to Hennie Groenewald (Ford Thunderbolt) ahead of Mark du Toit (Ford Fairlane) and Ben Morgenrood (Ford Mustang), Jonathan du Toit (Chevrolet Nova) and Jeffrey Kruger (Chevrolet Camaro).
Groenewald got the jump on the rest and led race two from lights to flag, followed by Mark du Toit, Kruger, Jonathan du Toit (Chevrolet Nova) and Colin Ellison (Ford Thunderbolt).
Officially, top billing belonged to the 45-minute Castrol Pre-1966 race, which was led from start to finish by James Temple in his Shelby Daytona Coupe.
He was followed over the line by Rui Campos (Daytona Coupe), Oliver Dalais (Ford GT40), Peter Bailey (Ford GT40) and Alan Meyer (Chevron B9).
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Front-running retirements included those of Warren Lombard (AC Cobra), Mark du Toit (Ford GT40) and Thomas Falkiner (Ford Mustang).
Jonathan du Toit (Chevron B8) took the opening race for Auto Truck International Prototypes, ahead of Lee Thompson (Opel Astra) and Larry Wilford (Lola T70). Wilford took race two, followed by Thompson and Du Toit.
Mini Cooper drivers Terence Botes and Kyle Brink finished first and second in both the Marlboro Crane Hire Pre-1966 Little Giant races, with Grant Viljoen (Mercedes 300 SEL 6.3 AMG) and George Smalberger (Ford Escort) taking turns in the respective final podium places.
Charl Arangies debuted his new PAGID Mercedes-AMG GT in the best possible way by winning the first G&H Transport Extreme Supercar race. He finished ahead of Jonathan du Toit (Lamborghini Huracan) and Franco Scribante (Porsche 911 RSR).
Scribante turned the turbo boost way, way up on the Porsche and led race two from start to finish, with du Toit second and Arangies third.
Mario Rossi (Alfa Romeo GTV6) took the first MHCC Trofeo race ahead of Martin Botha (Ford Escort) and Claudio Rossi (Alfa Romeo GTV6). Race two went to Johan Coetzee Jnr (Datsun 1200 GX), leading home Travis Jensen (Datsun 1200 GX) and Ian Richards (Datsun 1200 GX).
udolf de Vos (Chevrolet Firenza CanAm) won both the Ben Morgenrood Group HRSA races, followed on both occasions by Andre van der Merwe (Porsche 911 RSR). Rob Prece (Volkswagen Golf) and Richard Pott (Porsche 911 RSR) took turns in the respective two third places.
Matt Nash (Van Diemen) won both the Historic Single Seater races, with Andrew Horne (Royale) and Dalan Holton (Van Diemen) swapping the respective second and third places.
Andre Hattingh (Mercedes 190E) and Johann Smith (Nissan Skyline) swapped first and second places in the HRSA Pursuit races, with Johan Gouws (Volkswagen Scirocco) third both times.
The next race meeting at the Zwartkops Raceway will be round one of the 2023 Extreme Festival, on Saturday, February 18.
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